Moment of Silence: George Scithers

George Scithers has passed away.  Below is a post that appeared on the SFPA list.

I'm copying here information that John Betancourt (of "Weird Tales"/Wildside press) sent out --

George Scithers passed away at Suburban Hospital in Maryland Monday afternoon, April 19. He had been hospitalized on Thursday for an operation on his foot (a complication of his diabetes). Saturday morning, sometime between 5:00am and 6:00am, he suffered a heart attack. A nurse found him when she came in to give him his 6:00am pills. He was revived, but a CAT Scan showed significant brain damage. His organs began to fail shortly thereafter. Monday afternoon, he passed away. Cards may be sent to his longtime partner, Larry Fiege, at 218 Blandford St., Rockville, MD 20850-2629. John B. & Stephen Segal are discussing ways to commemorate his contributions to the field and hope to have an announcement of a project in his memory soon. They will also be
collecting remembrances for the next issue of Weird Tales.

During his stint as editor of "Amazing," George started using poetry regularly in the magazine's contents, and he continued that practice when he went to "Asimov's," and it became then and still is a major market for sf poetry, the only one among the major sf magazines. (He also continued his poem-friendly practice at "Weird Tales.")

Ruth Berman